Communication | Doc. 13473 | 05 April 2014
President’s activities between the first the second part of the 2014 Ordinary session
1. Visits and meetings
1.1. President’s activities between 27 January and 28 February 2014
1.1.1. 2014 First part-session
During the first part-session of the Parliamentary Assembly I held a number of bilateral meetings with invited guests, including the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers and Minister for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria, Mr Sebastian Kurz, the Federal Chancellor of Austria, Mr Werner Faymann, as well as the President of the European Parliament, Mr Martin Schulz.
The visit of the President of the European Parliament (EP) to Strasbourg was definitely a highlight of this part session. Our meeting focused, inter alia, on current political issues and the co-operation between the Council of Europe and the European Union following last year’s Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit (including our reaction to the crisis in Ukraine), as well as on ways of improving co-ordination and information exchange between the Assembly and the EP. In this context, we agreed on the need to organise meetings between the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament and the Assembly’s Presidential Committee on a more regular basis to discuss focused co-operation on issues of common interest. We also stressed the need to foster regular exchanges between the Assembly’s rapporteurs and their EP counterparts.
During this part-session, I also met with a number of parliamentary delegations, including national and partner for democracy delegations, as well as parliamentary delegations invited on the occasion of this part-session. My meeting with the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic was particularly interesting, in the light of the preparation of the Assembly’s report and opinions on the request of the Kyrgyz Parliament for Partnership for Democracy status.
To foster good intra-institutional relations, immediately upon my election, I met with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe with whom we agreed to conduct regular consultations, co-ordinate visits, and exchange information of mutual interest on a working basis. We put this agreement into practice when dealing with the situation in Ukraine.
1.1.2. Situation in Ukraine
The crisis in Ukraine was one of the top priority issues on my agenda during this period. Already during the January 2014 part-session, I held a joint meeting with the leader of the Ukrainian delegation to the Assembly, Mr Popescu, and a representative of the parliamentary opposition, Mr Sobolev, to identify a concrete role for the Assembly and its bodies in facilitating the search for a political solution to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, taking fully into account our discussions within the Presidential Committee. We agreed that during their visit to Kyiv on 17-21 February 2014, the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee should follow up the implementation of Assembly Resolution 1974 (2014) and that the Presidential Committee should stand ready to become involved, if the situation so requires.
Subsequently, as the events unfolded, I held urgent consultations with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the Human Rights Commissioner to co-ordinate our reactions to the rapidly deteriorating situation. I was also in permanent contact with the co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee during their visit to Kyiv, as well as with the members of the Ukrainian delegation – Mr Popescu and Mr Sobolev – in order to follow the developments in real time. I would like to thank all my interlocutors for their constructive co-operation, which enabled our Assembly to react in a concerted and co-ordinated fashion to this major crisis in one of our member States. I look forward to continuing this co-operation in the future, on the situation in Ukraine as well as on other topical issues of the Assembly.
On 25 February 2014, I sent a letter to the Interim President of Ukraine, Mr Oleksandr Turchynov, welcoming the end of violence and reiterating the Assembly’s availability to assist Ukraine, and especially the Verkhovna Rada, in its efforts to find long-term solutions to the crisis and to rebuild confidence in institutions, in full respect of our shared values and standards of democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
On 27 February 2014, I sent a letter to Mr Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Prime Minister of Ukraine, inviting him to address the Assembly on the occasion of our April 2014 part-session.
1.1.3. Information meetings with various Council of Europe bodies and institutions
My first priority as President of the Assembly was to meet the representatives of all major Council of Europe bodies and institutions in order to become acquainted with the key priority actions of the Council of Europe for the year ahead, identify areas for co-operation, and focus my activities accordingly, in order to make the Assembly’s role and contribution to the Council of Europe’s action more visible.
I started by meeting the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe in order to co-ordinate our agendas and priorities for 2014. I then met Mr Philippe Boillat, Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law, Ms Snežana Samardžić-Marković, Director General of Democracy, the Human Rights Commissioner, Mr Nils Muiznieks, as well as the President of the Venice Commission, Mr Gianni Buquicchio.
Subsequently, I held several sessions of thematic briefings with the Heads of Secretariats of the Assembly’s committees, as well as the representatives of various sectors and monitoring bodies of the Organisation. I would like to thank wholeheartedly all my interlocutors for their availability as well as the quality and comprehensiveness of the information provided. These briefings were of great help for me, in order to focus better my activities as President of the Assembly. The details of these meetings are contained in the Appendix to this communication.
1.1.4. Other activities
On 5 February 2014, I addressed the 1190th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies in order to present to the Committee of Ministers the priority issues on which I would like to focus my activities, as well as the results of the 2014 first part-session of the Assembly. I appreciated very much the open and frank exchange of views which followed my presentation.
During the 2014 first part-session, as well as during my three visits to Strasbourg (5-6 February, 13-14 February and 19-21 February), I also met several Ambassadors of our member States (see Appendix for details). I would like to note in particular my meeting with the Permanent Representative of Georgia, Ambassador Konstantin Korkelia, at which I reiterated our demand to the Georgian authorities to guarantee freedom of movement of Assembly members in Georgia when on Assembly business.
Furthermore, I had extensive contacts with the press in order to promote the visibility of the Assembly’s actions.
1.2. President’s activities between 28 February and 3 April 2014
1.2.1. Ukraine
The situation in Ukraine continued to be in the focus of my attention. Alarmed by the growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine, I decided to contact, on 5 March 2014, the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Interim President of Ukraine, Mr Oleksandr Turchinov, as well as the Speaker of the State Duma, Mr Sergey Naryshkin, calling for a peaceful solution of the crisis. I appealed to all sides to avoid any action that could spark violence and reiterated the urgency of resolving this conflict peacefully and fully in line with the Council of Europe values that both Russia and Ukraine have subscribed to. Furthermore, I have offered the Assembly’s assistance to the Ukrainian Interim President, including within the context of a fact-finding visit to Ukraine. Subsequently, the Presidential Committee of the Assembly decided to pay such a visit to Ukraine, on 21-24 March 2014, together with the Monitoring Committee’s co-rapporteurs on Ukraine.
During my working visit to the United Nations in New York, on 10-12 March 2014, I raised the issue of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine with the UN Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki-moon. We agreed that there were good reasons for the UN and the Council of Europe to concentrate on keeping avenues of dialogue open between the parties and that both organisations should use their greatest strengths – namely the power of diplomacy – to bring the parties to the table to find solutions. I also discussed the crisis and the possibilities for its solution with my interlocutors in the United Nations Secretariat (in particular, at the Department of Political Affairs), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and as well as the NGO Human Rights Watch.
On 18 March 2014, I condemned, in the strongest possible terms, Russia’s decision to recognise the independence of Crimea, and annex it into the Russian Federation, which is in violation of the Statute and basic principles of the Council of Europe, as well as with Russia’s commitments to the Organisation, stressing that all member States of the Council of Europe must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other States.
On 21-24 March 2014, I participated in the Presidential Committee’s visit to Ukraine. Our initial plan was to visit Kyiv, Odessa and the Crimea. However, following Russia’s decision to annex Crimea, conditions for organising a fact-finding visit to this region were no longer appropriate, which obliged us to modify the programme and organise meetings in Donetsk and in Lviv. The aim of our visit was to assess the situation on the ground and discuss with the Ukrainian central, regional and local authorities the ways of resolving the ongoing crisis.
In this context, I would like to thank the Ukrainian authorities, especially the Verkhovna Rada and the two offices of the regional governors, for the excellent organisation of the visit. Our discussions were of a very high quality and we appreciated the constructive approach of our interlocutors.
During our stay in Donetsk, we witnessed a demonstration, noting that this took place in a calm atmosphere. In this connection, we stressed the need to address tensions surrounding the Russian-speaking community and called on all involved to step back from any provocation or rhetoric which could heat up the tensions further.
Our meetings also focused on identifying priorities for the reform of Ukraine’s democratic institutions. We noted that the number one priority had to be the adoption of a new Constitution, followed by the adoption of a unified electoral law. Other priorities need to include decentralisation of government and guarantees that the rights of all national and linguistic minorities are fully protected. The Council of Europe could certainly provide expertise and support in dealing with these different issues.
Speaking about the events which occurred during the Maidan protests, we stressed that there must be no impunity for human rights abuses, and that effective investigations into the events must be conducted. We also stressed the need to ensure the independence of the judiciary as well as the importance of taking effective measures to combat endemic corruption.
Upon returning from Ukraine, I met, on 26 March 2014, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe to share with him my impressions from the visit and co-ordinate our actions in preparation of the Assembly’s April 2014 part session. On 3 April, I met the Permanent representatives of Ukraine and Russia to the Council of Europe in order to discuss with them the ongoing crisis situation.
1.2.2. Participation in the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) (New York, 10-12 March 2014)
On 10 March 2014, I participated in the opening of the 58th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, along with Ms Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
I gave a keynote presentation at the Side Event at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). This was co-organised by the Council of Europe and the Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations and entitled “Trafficking in Human beings – a severe form of violence against women and girls and a flagrant violation of human rights: The Council of Europe approach”. On the same day, I attended a second side event organised by the French and the Argentinian Permanent Representations on the Convention of Belém do Pará and the Istanbul Convention.
In the margins of my participation in the 58th session of the CSW, I held bilateral meetings with UN high officials and, in particular, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon, whom I invited to address the Assembly during one of our forthcoming part-sessions. During all my meetings, I promoted the Council of Europe conventions on preventing and combating violence against women as well as on action against trafficking in human beings, as comprehensive binding international instruments open for accession to non-member States of the Council of Europe. In particular, I noted that these Council of Europe conventions could be used at universal level, stressing the importance of avoiding diluting standards through the negotiation of treaties at world level.
Furthermore, together with the Deputy Secretary General, I held meetings with Ms Bassima Hakkaoui, Minister of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development of the Kingdom of Morocco, and Ms Leila Chaabane, State Secretary and Head of the Tunisian Delegation to the CSW, to discuss their country’s experience in fighting trafficking and violence against women, in order to identify avenues for future co-operation. It transpired from our discussion that concrete co-operation activities could be launched between the Assembly’s Committee on Equality and Non-discrimination, and the Tunisian and Moroccan authorities, within the framework of the so-called Joint Council of Europe-European Union South Programme. After my visit, I informed the secretariat of the Equality and Non-discrimination Committee of these ideas for possible follow-up.
My meeting with the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations was an opportunity to discuss migration issues, bearing in mind the new challenges that Morocco is facing as a country of origin, transit and destination for migrants and asylum seekers. I took note of the progress that Morocco was making in terms of the Millennium Development Goals and how they apply to women and the particular challenges faced by rural women.
1.2.3. Contacts with international partners
During my working visit to New York, on 10-12 March 2014, as well as at the margin of the Conference devoted to the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War and the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin War, held in Vienna on 17 March 2014, I had a number of meetings with our international partners, as follows:
Meeting with Mr Udo Janz, Director of UNHCR office in New York (12 March 2014)
The meeting focussed on the situation of Syrian refugees and displaced persons and the problem of assisting Syrians trapped in the country, problems of resettlement and the particular situation of women and girls. I welcomed Mr Janz’s offer to provide regular briefings for Assembly members visiting New York and hope that interested members will use this opportunity in future.
Meeting with the representatives of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (12 March 2014)
I was informed of problems of various UN missions to have access to Crimea and that a small mission of human rights monitors had been set up. For my part, I updated UN counterparts of the Council of Europe’s initiatives, in particular, of the work of the Venice Commission and of the proposal of the Secretary General to set up an advisory panel to oversee investigations into human rights violations that occurred during the Maidan protests.
Meeting with Mr Lamberto Zannier, Secretary General of the OSCE (17 March 2014)
The situation in and around Ukraine was the key point of our discussion. We exchanged information on the state of discussions in the Council of Europe and in the OSCE on this subject, as well as on the various initiatives taken on both sides. We agreed that in the face of this major crisis between two member States of the Council of Europe and of the OSCE it was essential to strengthen co-ordination between the two Organisations, so as to ensure that we speak with one voice.
We also discussed co-operation between the Council of Europe and the OSCE in the field of election support programmes and election observation.
1.2.4. Participation in the Conference “1914 – The collapse of a Peace Order: Is Democratic Peace an Alternative?” co-organised by the Austrian Parliament and the Austrian Institute for international politics (Vienna, 17 March 2014)
At the invitation of the President of the Austrian Parliament, Ms Barbara Prammer, I attended this event and delivered a keynote address. The conference was opened by Austrian Chancellor, Mr Werner Faymann and the Speaker of the Austrian Parliament, Ms Barbara Prammer. The President of the European Parliament, Mr Martin Schulz, also gave an address.
In my speech I highlighted the Council of Europe’s successful experience in promoting peace, stability and co-operation in Europe, on the basis of shared values, common standards and agreed commitments, which all member States have voluntarily entered into. Referring to the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, I stressed that being a member of the Council of Europe was a free choice of all member States and that it implied the respect of the rules ‘of the house’, which exclude recourse to threats, be they economic or the use of force. As Assembly members, representing 820 million Europeans, it is our duty to remind all our member States of the rules and to speak out over what is unacceptable.
1.2.5. Address to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (Strasbourg, 26 March 2014)
On 26 March 2014, I addressed the plenary session of the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, praising excellent co-operation between the Assembly and the Congress which has been developed over the years. Speaking about the situation in and around Ukraine, I stressed the need to ensure that all bodies of the Council of Europe speak with one voice in the face of this major crisis, paying due respect to the institutional prerogatives of each other. In particular, the Congress could provide the Ukrainian authorities with valuable support in connection with the reform of Ukraine's local and regional governance system, which has to be one of the country’s top priorities.
As far as co-operation between the Assembly and the Congress is concerned, I stressed that the impact of austerity measures on the European social model, as well as the challenges posed by the economic and financial crisis, called for a co-ordinated response from national, regional and local authorities, and that synergies between the Assembly and the Congress in this area were needed more than ever.
Furthermore, I welcomed the Congress’ interest in youth empowerment, emphasizing the need to ensure young people’s involvement in the management of local public services, and improving their access to social and economic rights.
During the session, I was also able to meet with the President of the Congress, Mr Herwig Van Staa, to discuss priorities for co-operation between the Assembly and the Congress.
1.2.6. Official visit of their Royal Highnesses the Grand-Duke and the Grand-Duchess of Luxembourg (Strasbourg, 27 March 2014)
On 27 March 2014, I had the honour of welcoming to the Council of Europe their Royal Highnesses the Grand-Duke Henri and the Grand-Duchess Maria-Teresa of Luxembourg, accompanied by the Minister for Justice of Luxembourg, Mr Felix Braz.
I accompanied their Royal Highnesses the Grand-Duke and the Grand-Duchess of Luxembourg to the European Court of Human Rights, where they paid an official visit and participated in a Solemn Session in the Court’s Hearing Room, at the invitation of the Luxembourg President of the Court, Mr Dean Spielmann.
The details of all my activities and meetings are contained in Appendices 1 and 2 of the present document
2. Press releases
1. Combating anti-Semitism and maintaining the duty of memory to avoid repeating of the past (30 January 2014)
2. PACE President: ‘Stop the bloodshed in Ukraine’ (20 February 2014)
3. Ukraine: PACE President calls on all parties to respect the agreement (21 February 2014)
4. After speaking to both sides, President calls for peaceful solution in Ukraine (5 March 2014)
5. Anne Brasseur: ‘Sharing responsibilities to achieve de facto equality’ (7 March 2014)
6. Anne Brasseur: parliamentarians can give victims of trafficking a voice (10 Mach 2014)
7. Anne Brasseur discusses Ukraine with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (12 March 2014)
8. Ukraine crisis: ‘There are rules which must be respected’ (17 March 2014)
9. Anne Brasseur strongly condemns Russia’s recognition of the independence of Crimea (18 March 2014)
10. Help with laying foundations for democratic reforms in Ukraine (25 March 2014)
11. Exemplary co-operation between PACE and the Congress (26 March 2014)
12. Turkey: total blocking access to YouTube contrary to the case-law of the ECHR (28 March 2014)
3. Speeches
1. Opening speech of the First part of the 2014 session (27 January 2014)
2. Speech at the ceremony of presentation of New Year’s wishes by the Mayor of Strasbourg (29 January 2014)
3. Speech on the occasion of the Ceremony commemorating the memory of the victims of the Holocaust (30 January 2014)
4. Speech at the 1190th meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (5 February 2014)
5. Speech at the Council of Europe event on “Trafficking in human beings – a severe form of violence against women and girls and a flagrant violation of human rights: the council of Europe response’ (New York, 10 March 2014), at the margin of the 58th session of the Commission on the Status of Women of the United Nations
6. Speech delivered at the Conference ‘1914 – The collapse of a Peace Order: Is Democratic Peace an Alternative?’ (Vienna, 17 March 2014)
7. Speech delivered at the 26th Session of the Congress (Strasbourg, 26 March 2014)
Appendix 1 – Activities between 27 January and 28 February 2014 (in chronological order)
(open)1. First part of the 2014 ordinary session (27-31 January 2014)
- Meeting with Mr Sebastian Kurz, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Austria
- Meeting with Mr Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament
- Meeting with Mr Werner Faymann, Federal Chancellor of Austria
2. Bilateral meetings
- Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General
- Ms Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General
- Mr Niels Mužnieks, Commissioner for Human rights
- Mr Philippe Boillat, Director General, DGI – Directorate General Human Rights and Rule of Law
- Ms Snežana Samardžić-Marković, General Director, DGII – Directorate General of Democracy
- Mr Gianni Buquicchio, President, European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission)
- Ms Mireille Paulus, Secretary to the Committee of Ministers
- Mr Daniel Höltgen, Director of Communication
3. Briefings with Council of Europe department sectors and monitoring bodies (in chronological order)
- Ms Sonia Sirtori-Milner, Head of Secretariat, PACE Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination
- Ms Tanja Kleinsorge, Head of Secretariat, PACE Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable development
- Mr Andrew Drzemczewski, Head of Department, PACE Legal Affairs and Human Rights Department
- Ms Agnès Nollinger, Head of Secretariat, PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
- Mr Régis Brillat, Executive Secretary of the European Committee of Social Rights, DG I
- Ms Liri Kopaçi-di Michele, Head of the Equality Division, DG II
- Ms Petya Nestorova, Head of Division and Executive Secretary of the European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, DG II
- Ms Michèle Akip, Head of Secretariat of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and on the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, DG II
- Mr Stephanos Stavros, Executive Secretary to the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), DG II
- Ms Marja Ruotanen, Director of the Directorate of Dignity and Equality, DGII
- Ms Hanne Juncher, Head of Department, Justice and Legal Co-operation Department, DGI
- Mr Christos Giakoumopoulos, Director, Directorate of Human Rights, DGI
- Mr Jan Kleijssen, Director, Directorate of Information Society and Action against Crime, DGI
- Mr Jeroen Schokkenbroek, Director a.i., Directorate of Democratic Citizenship and Participation, Special Representative of the Support Team of the Secretary General for Roma issues, DG II
4. Meetings with the diplomatic community
- Ms Ellen Berends, Ambassador of the Netherlands
- Mr Zoran Popović, Ambassador of Serbia
- Mr Konstantin Korkelia, Ambassador of Georgia
- Mr Dmitry Yarmolyuk, Representative of Belarus
5. Contact with the media : interviews given in January 2014
RIA-NOVOSTI |
News & Information Agency |
Russian Federation |
ITAR-TASS |
News Agency |
Russian Federation |
Voice of America |
International public broadcaster |
International |
Radio France Maghreb 2 |
Radio |
Maghreb |
Kommersant Daily |
Newspaper |
Russian Federation |
Europe 1 |
Radio |
France |
France Bleu Alsace |
Radio |
France |
France Info |
Radio |
France |
Radio France Culture |
Radio |
France |
Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace (DNA) |
Newspaper |
France Alsace |
Parliamentary TV Luxembourg "Chamber TV" |
TV |
Luxembourg |
Luxemburger Wort |
Newspaper |
Luxembourg |
Le Quotidien |
Newspaper |
Luxembourg |
Letzebuerger Journal |
Newspaper |
Luxembourg |
Tageblatt |
Newspaper |
Luxembourg |
RTL Luxembourg |
Radio |
Luxembourg |
Appendix 2 – Activities between 28 February and 3 April 2014 (in chronological order)
(open)1. Bilateral meetings
New York
- Ms Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe
- Ms Leila Chaabane, Secretary of State, Tunisian Head of Delegation
- Ms Bassima Hakkaoui, Minister of Solidarity, Women, Family and Social Development of the Kingdom of Morocco
- Ms Cathy Russell, US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues
- Mr Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General, United Nations
- Mr Udo Janz, Director, UNHCR Office in New York
- Ms Aida Martirous-Nejad, Human Rights Officer, and Mr Mauricio Paix-Merino, Political Affairs Officer, UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner
- H.E. Mr Mohammed Loulichki, Permanent Representative of Morocco
- Ms Rachel Denber, Deputy Director, Europe and Central Asia, Human Rights Watch, and Ms Veronika Szente Goldston, Advocacy Director, Europe and Central Asia Division, Human Rights Watch
- Ms Elizabeth Spehar, Director, Europe Division, Department of Political Affairs, United Nations
Vienna
- Mag. Barbara Prammer, President of the Austrian Parliament
- Mr Lamberto Zannier, Secretary General of the OSCE
- Mr Morton Kjaerum, Executive Director of the Agency for Fundamental Rights of the EU
Ukraine
Briefing with Ambassador Vladimir Ristovski, with the participation of Mr Jeroen Schokkenbroek, Special Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Meetings in the Verkhovna Rada:
- Mr Turchynov, Acting President of Ukraine and Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
- Mr Avakov, Minister of Internal Affairs
- Mr O. Shevchenko, member of the Parliamentary fraction of “Svoboda”, member of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE
- Working lunch with Mr Ivan Popescu, Chairman of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE
- Mr Chechetov, First deputy Head of the Parliamentary fraction of the Party of Regions
- Mr Sobolev, Head of the Parliamentary fraction of “Bat'kivshchyna”, deputy chairman of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE,
- Mr Ariev and Mr A. Shevchenko, members of the Parliamentary fraction of “Bat'kivshchyna” and members of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE,
- Mr Dzhemiliev, former Chairman of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, member of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE
- Mrs Gerashchenko and Mr Ryibikin, members of the Parliamentary fraction of “UDAR”, members of the Ukrainian delegation to the PACE
- Mr Tsybenko, member of the Parliamentary fraction of the Communist Party,
- Mr Kinakh, Head of the group of deputies "Economic development",
- Mr Bodbar, member the group of deputies "Independent European Ukraine"
Meetings in Donetsk:
- Mr Sergey Taruta, Governor of Donetsk Oblast and members of the regional Council of Donetsk
- Representatives of Russian, Ukrainian and other ethnic cultural organisations in Donetsk
Meetings in Lviv:
- Mr Petr Kolodya, Head of the Lviv Regional Council, and Ms Iryna She, Head of the Regional Branch of the State Administration
- Members of the regional Council of Lviv Oblast
- Mr Andriy Sadoviy, Mayor of Lviv
- Representatives of Russian, Ukrainian and other ethnic cultural organisations in Lviv
Informal meetings:
- Ambassador Christian Schoenenberger, Ambassador of Switzerland to Ukraine and representative of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office
- Ms Alessandra Tisot, United Nations Resident Coordinator, UNDP Resident Representative in Ukraine
Strasbourg
- Their Royal Highnesses the Grand-Duke and the Grand-Duchess of Luxembourg
- M. Felix Braz, Minister for Justice of Luxembourg
2. Meetings with Council of Europe officials (in Strasbourg)
- Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General
- Mr Herwig van Staa, President of the Congress
- Mr Dean Spielmann, President of the European Court of Human Rights
- Ambassador Rudolf Lennkh, Permanent Representative of Austria, Chairperson of the Ministers’ Deputies
- Ms Verena Taylor, Director, Office of the Directorate General of Programmes
- Mr Alexander Guessel, Director, Directorate of Political Advice
3. Meetings with the diplomatic community (in Strasbourg)
- Ambassador Dirk Van Eeckhout, Permanent Representative of Belgium
- Ambassador Astrid Emilie Helle, Permanent Representative of Norway
- Ambassador Michèle Eisenbarth, Permanent Representative of Luxembourg
- Ambassador Alexander Alekseev, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation
- Ambassador Mykola Tochytski, Permanent Representative of Ukraine
4. Contact with the media: interviews given in March 2014
M. Denis Durand de Bousingen |
Journalist with CoE accreditation |
France |
RTL Radio Luxembourg |
Radio |
Luxembourg |
Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace (DNA) |
Written press |
France |
Kommersant Daily |
Written press |
Russian Federation |
S.Voropayev |
Freelance Journalist |
Ukraine |
Voice of Russia “The Red Line “ |
Weekly radio programme |
Russian Federation |
Deutsche Welle |
Radio |
Germany |
AFP |
Press agency |
France |
Le Quotidien du Médecin |
Written press |
France |
France 24 TV |
Television |
France |